First American Financial Corp.: The Santa Ana...

First American Financial Corp.: The Santa Ana real estate financial services company reported that its third-quarter profit dropped to $4.8 million, or 42 cents a share, from $19.6 million, or $1.72 a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue dropped to $334.9 million from $376.8 million. The company attributed the declines to rising interest rates. Year-to-date profit was $21.8 million, or $1.91 a share, compared with $45.8 million, or $4.04 a share, for the same period in 1993, which included a gain of $4.2 million from an accounting change. Revenue rose to $1.1 billion from $989.3 million.